Bitcoin Price Barely Budges as Federal Reserve Keeps Interest Rates Static

The Federal Reserve today announced it would keep interest rates as they are—as expected—and said that its plan to slash rates later this year was still in place. Central bank officials have penciled in three quarter-percentage point cuts by the end of this year. 

The price of Bitcoin has remained largely flat since the announcement, gently rising before dipping again. It now stands at $64,250, according to data from CoinGecko, down 1% over the last 24 hours.

Bitcoin's price is still down substantially over the past week after touching a new all-time high of $73,737 just six days ago. It has fallen 12% on the week. 

“The economic outlook is uncertain, and the Committee remains highly attentive to inflation risks,” a Wednesday statement from the Fed said. 

Investors were paying close attention to what the Fed would do following news last week that February inflation was hotter than expected. “Risk-on” assets such as Bitcoin and equities tend to experience sell-offs when inflation is hot and the Fed looks ready to tighten monetary policy. 

The Fed started aggressively raising rates in 2022 in a bid to try and control 40-year high inflation. Both stocks and crypto were negatively hit by the tightening.

Bitcoin has since become more independent. U.S. stocks—particularly in the world of tech—have experienced a boom. And today, stocks jumped on the Fed’s news. The Nasdaq jumped by 0.2% while the The Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up by 0.25%. The S&P 500 is now up 0.21%.

Brian Dixon, CEO of OTC Capital, told Decrypt, “It’s important to note that the fluctuations in rates may only create short-term movement with Bitcoin as traders attempt to move around the market sentiment.”

He added that long-term holders were unlikely to be phased by Fed decisions.

Edited by Andrew Hayward